Arthur Ravenel Jr. (March 29, 1927 – January 16, 2023) was an American businessman and a Republican politician from

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

. From 1987 to 1995, he served four terms in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Early life

Ravenel was born on March 29, 1927, to Arthur Ravenel Sr. and Mary Allen Boykin. During the waning days of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Charleston-born Ravenel enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

, serving from 1945 to 1946. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th-oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1950, then became

realtor Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and agent ...

and

general contractor A contractor (North American English) or builder (British English), is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the c ...

Political career

First elected at age 25, he was a Democratic member of the

South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seatin ...

from 1953 to 1959. Ravenel became a Republican in 1960 and ran many times for office. He lost elections for the South Carolina State Senate three times (1962, 1974, and 1976), for the United States House of Representatives (in a 1971

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

), and for mayor of Charleston (also 1971). Ravenel was elected as a Republican to the South Carolina Senate in 1980. He served until 1986, when he was elected to the U.S. Congress from the Charleston-based 1st District that became open when incumbent Tommy Hartnett ran for Lt. Governor. During his four terms in Congress, he focused his attention on constituent services, rarely sponsoring legislation. He was reelected three more times without serious opposition. He did not run for reelection in 1994, but instead ran for

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. He finished second in the Republican primary to then State Representative

David Beasley David Muldrow Beasley (born February 26, 1957) is an American politician and the former executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served one term as the L ...

, but lost the runoff. Beasley, considered more conservative than Ravenel, went on to win the general election. In 1996, Ravenel was elected to his old seat in the state Senate, where he served until 2005. Ravenel staged a comeback in 2006, having been elected at the age of 79 to a seat on the

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

of Charleston County. Only a year earlier, he had suffered a bout of

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset Paralysis, muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation ...

. In the same election, his son Thomas Ravenel, also a Republican, was elected state treasurer. The younger Ravenel resigned from the office after only six months following serious legal allegations.

Controversies

Ravenel said that he had run for the state Senate in 1996 specifically to seek funding for a new bridge between Charleston and Mount Pleasant to replace the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge and Silas N. Pearman Bridge. Both bridges were nearing the end of their useful lives, and had been criticized as safety hazards. Due to his efforts in passing laws for the new bridge's funding, fellow lawmakers voted to name the

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...

in Charleston the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. Some felt that the bridge should not be named after Ravenel, with the head of the South Carolina Infrastructure Bank saying in 1999, "Certainly, Arthur Ravenel is a fine, decent person, but that bridge is bigger than any one individual and it should reflect all the qualities of the state and not some state senator who happens to be in the Legislature the time the structure is being built." Ravenel himself made light of the controversy, joking after diagnosis of his illness that he might die, to the satisfaction of "those people who say you shouldn't name things after people before they're dead." Ravenel was a member of Moultrie Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and a supporter of the Confederate flag being flown at the South Carolina statehouse. He provoked controversy in response to a reporter's question in 2000 when he referred to the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

as the "National Association for Retarded People". Asked for an apology, Ravenel, who had a son with Down's Syndrome, offered one to those who suffered from mental conditions. Ravenel once said that his fellow white congressional committee members operated on "black time", which he characterized as meaning "fashionably late"." In August 2020, several episodes of the reality television series '' Southern Charm'', including one which featured Ravenel, were removed from streaming and VOD services over "racially charged moments within them". In the episode featuring Ravenel, he leaves a $5 tip at a restaurant and tells his son, Thomas, that he " ikesto get rid" of $5 bills because

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

is on the front; he then looks at the camera and smiles "wryly".

Death

Ravenel died in Charleston on January 16, 2023, at the age of 95. He was buried at the cemetery of Huguenot Church in Charleston.

References

External links